Continuity mistake: Abel Turner at the beginning of the movie is having a discipline-filled breakfast with his kids. Marcus arrives at the table and his glass of orange juice is full practically to the brim. In any other angle, the level of liquid is lower. (00:03:00)
Continuity mistake: Lisa is in the pool and kisses Chris who just had a chat with the creepy Abel Turner. She has her hands on the edge of the pool when the kiss begins, but at the cut her hands are underwater and Chris' fingers reach around the edge. (00:18:40)
Plot hole: At the end, when Chris finds the informant's phone, he sees that there are 2 voicemail messages. Instead of listening to them, he calls the last number, which reveals Abel is responsible for the break-in when he answers and in turn reveals to Abel that Chris knows about the break-in. It would make more sense to just listen to the voicemails, as Chris became immediately suspicious when he saw them. Considering Chris called the last number, he must have known that the last number was also the person who left the voicemails. Very deliberately done to bring realizations between Chris and Abel for a climax.
Continuity mistake: In the scene in which Abel is facing the gunmen with the shotgun, after Abel takes the gun away from the gunman and holds it up under his chin, the view changes from Abel's face to the gunman's face. When Abel's face is shown, the gunman's face is low, but when it switches to the gunman's face, you can note that his head is tilted up higher, and vice versa.
Other mistake: The way Chris finds the phone is impossible: the phone magically slips from under the bed, so it's within Chris's eyesight.
Answer: As far as symbolism, from a film student's perspective (mine), it's like destruction or division, two common themes in the film. The two characters are split in values and the fire is raging between them. As the fire gets closer to the houses, it increases in intensity, as does the fighting between neighbors. I think in this film, fire was used not only as a plot device, but a metaphor for the story as well.
manthabeat ★